


The Logic Behind Deceit

by Heliosthetroll



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 17:13:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20362117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliosthetroll/pseuds/Heliosthetroll
Summary: Logan can't help but become curious about Deceit after hearing that Remus was sent by him when he first appears and when Logan becomes curious about something he does everything he can to dig up information on that thing.





	The Logic Behind Deceit

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's a post only like a week after my last one! It's a miracle! Heh yeah, I've been super inspired recently for this fandom so here I am back at it again with another fic that's even longer this time so I hope you all enjoy!

Logan never thought he and Deceit would ever get along. He knew they’d never disagree as much as Deceit and Patton did, lies went strictly against the moral code Patton stood for after all, but he never really thought they’d have anything in common either. But as time went on Logan couldn’t help feeling like maybe that leap in thinking on his part had been the wrong thing to do. Illogical even. 

It all started when Remus first showed himself to Thomas. Or really in the aftermath of that event. Once everything was calm again and Thomas was back to his normal days, or at least as normal as they were going to be at the moment, Logan tucked himself away in his room and started to think about the event. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. While Virgil had some hand in cementing Thomas’s memories in place and Patton kept some of the more long term memories, mostly the good ones, Logan held on to some himself in his own room, especially the more short term ones like Remus’s recent visit was at the moment. He went through the memory over and over again, especially of the song part of the event, and looked over it for clues about Remus to help Thomas dismantle him quicker in the future. Sure there had already been improvement but there was always room for more to Logan. On one of these watch throughs, Logan got stuck on one very important point of Remus’s song. During one part of it, he brought up a ‘snake’ that was obviously, even to Logan, Deceit. He had implied that him being here was because of Deceit in that moment even if logically the reason was because of Thomas’s recent distress. It got Logan stuck because yes, his logic for Remus showing up now was sound, but yet here was this little thing implying more was behind this than just that. Why would Deceit even send Remus anyway? The moment when Remus had shared his name where he’d said he’d had nothing to hide was clearly a jab at Virgil for hiding his name for so long but then Deceit hadn’t shared his yet and he was pretty much made of secrets and lies so it didn’t make much sense for them to be partnering together. Remus never made much sense with what he did but Deceit, at least on some level, did make sense even if he was often wrong and a liar. In order to lie you have to know the facts after all, or else you’re just making a mistake because you don’t know the truth, not lying. Deceit was, to an extent, logical. That stuck out to Logan and only served to feed his already growing curiosity about the other side. Deceit was logical. Just like him.

Logan shelved the thought for now though, there were more pressing matters to contemplate at the moment and Logan couldn’t spare brainpower for that yet, it could come later. And come later it did. Specifically, it came about a week later. Remus had paid another visit during the night, this one a lot easier to deal with though, and it reminded Logan of all the thoughts he’d had when Remus had first shown up. All his suspicions and curiosities about Deceit. He couldn’t go to Deceit’s room, that wasn’t how it worked and if it was things would probably be simpler, but there was the possibility he could bring Deceit to him. He just had to figure out how.

It would take a lot of brainstorming and several more days for Logan to find a plan for that he found satisfactory but when he did he was quick to put it into action, eager to find out everything he could about Deceit now that he had reason to believe his previous assumptions might be wrong. That there might be more to him than just lying and secrets and attempts at making Thomas out to be a bad person. But Logan finally had a plan. All that had to be done now was put into action. Logan moved himself out into the common area of the light sides section of Thomas’s mind, an area Deceit should theoretically be able to access without too much issue and sat down on the couch calmly as if he was just taking a break from his work like any other day. Thankfully none of the others were around at the moment so he didn’t have to wait to try again later or try to shoo them out, this would work better without them reacting to Deceit’s presence. Once he was seated he started to try and draw Deceit out the best way he could think of, lying to himself. Blatant obvious lies to him, at least some of them, but ones that could be seen as insecurity or weakness to someone like Deceit lying in wait to strike at a chance just like this one. “I am bad at my job. My logic is not sound. I cause more damage than harm. I overreact too much. The others could never understand me.” He continued on for a bit before Patton suddenly appeared beside the couch, concerned face on as he moved to sit beside Logan. “Logan what are you talking abou-” “Deceit I know that’s you.” Logan says calmly, cutting to the chase before the half-snake faced male can become defensive or lie to defend himself and possibly confuse Logan. “Patton would not just appear he would rise up for one. And for two this was specially designed to draw you out seeing as since you are Deceit it would make sense for you to be able to tell I was lying to myself and then come out to pray on my insecurities like you’ve prayed on Roman’s traits several times before when you’ve shown up in Thomas’s videos.” Patton’s face is surprised for a moment before he frowns deeply and only confirms for Logan that this isn’t Patton. “So, please. Let’s cut to the chase and have the discussion I had hoped you would come here to be able to have with me.” Deceit narrows his eyes at Logan as he does change back to his natural form. He’s visibly suspicious and unsure of what Logan’s game here is. Logan sticks to his plan. “Good. Now as you’re likely confused as to my reason for drawing you out under false pretenses like I did so I am going to tell you right now why you have been brought here to this couch like this. I wish to ask you some questions so I may learn more about you and how you work and why you do the things you do. Not so that we can defeat you more easily in the future though inadvertently that may be one side effect but just so that I can have that information myself as I am quite curious.” Deceit doesn’t really seem to know what to make of that and just kind of blinks at Logan a few times. Slowly though he does speak words clearly thought out and calculated. “What kind of questions?” Logan makes a mental note of the lack of immediate rejection to his attempts at getting to know and understanding Deceit before speaking again. “Mostly questions about your goals with what you’ve done so far and why you believe those goals to be important. In fact, those are just my top two questions right there. Your goals and the reasons you believe those goals to be something Thomas needs to strive for.” Deceit still seems cautious and unsure but from what Logan can tell he’s keeping his lying under control for the moment which Logan is thankful for. “I would’ve thought I’d made it clear at the ‘trial’. My goal is to keep Thomas from being disadvantaged in society by his own lack of selfishness and self-preservation drive.” Logan nods thoughtfully and Deceit continues. “Society is a dangerous place with contradictions at every turn and lies even more often. Everything about it is a fabrication meant to keep people in line, behaving how the higher-ups in that society want them to because it benefits them. Even things like friendship and laws are made up so that people will put others before themselves leading to a constant backtracking of harm to oneself for the sake of others. It’s pointless. In a world where good and bad doesn’t matter but only what rules you follow and don’t follow Thomas is putting himself at a disadvantage and harming himself by always putting others first and handicapping himself, keeping himself from making progress by being selfish all for some societal rule that earns him nothing. When the punishment is not too great, I see no reason to still accept that disadvantage. Thomas’s friends are not worth losing that role of a lifetime because now who knows what will happen to Thomas’s career. It might never pick up because he chose them over himself. It makes no sense.” Deceit almost seems to be venting, getting more and more worked up and making more and more wild hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions just like he had during and after the trial. 

It’s fascinating to Logan really. He seems so intent on getting this point across to Logan, so frustrated that none of them have understood up to this point, he really doubts Remus really understands such a complex concept, and yet so far all his plans have been indirect and misleading schemes of one kind or another and when he had tried to explain this plainly it was because one he’d been on the witness stand and he’d quickly changed the topic afterward and two because he’d already lost all control of the situation and no one was really listening to him anymore. He can’t help but wonder if that’s a part of Deceit being well, Deceit, or if that’s a choice he makes for some other reason. But Logan thinks he gets what Deceit is trying to get across even if he doesn’t doubt he’s the only side who would understand. He nods slowly. “I see. You’re saying that by doing what is ‘good’ by society’s standards Thomas is harming himself in the long run.” “Yes!” Deceit’s eyes light up as Logan explains exactly the point the liar has been trying to make and his face breaks out in a grin. Something about it actually seems just a little… Cute. Logan pushes the thought aside and focuses on business. “Finally someone gets what I’ve been trying to do.” Deceit calms a bit, recomposing himself after the burst of excitement and returning to a more normal position and tone for him if relieved and self-satisfied. Logan nods. “I do believe I understand now. And I… Believe some of your views are not wrong if a bit mistargeted and some are just plain correct at least to me. But there is also a lot you seem to not fully understand or have misread and therefore have led to an incorrect view on the world that is leading to issues.” Deceit frowns again but lets Logan continue. “And beyond that, it’s also brought a few more questions to the surface. For example the question of why you didn’t just explain that plainly to begin with.” “Well for one most of you wouldn’t have understood even if I did so I had to try and find other ways to try and get you all to follow my plans to accomplish the right goals. But also it’s just how I work. I’m Deceit. I’m cunning and sly and a secret keeper.” Deceit shrugs and Logan nods in understanding again. All of this is so interesting and fascinating to him and Deceit is becoming less of a threat no one understands and more of an understood but misguided person with each moment. It’s like what happened with Virgil really but at the same time different. Virgil put up a... Not a mask really. He’s still very much a gloomy sometimes aggressive person. But he did put up an exaggerated version of himself to intimidate people into listening to him and his views were misguided and he needed understanding and acceptance and help. Deceit seems to be somewhat similar in his needs, understanding acceptance and help to see the truth of things but was completely different in what he needed guiding away from. Instead of aggression, he needed to be guided away from manipulation. Instead of being taught that what he fears isn’t always an issue and that keeping calm and communicating fears can help he needed to be taught that while his concerns are valid they aren’t always real issues and that communicating those fears can help with the choice of if they are or not. Instead of being taught that danger didn’t lurk in every unknown he needed to be taught that being unknown didn’t make things safe. 

Whereas Logan knew Patton was best suited for helping Virgil a good amount of the time even if each of them had their strong suits and weak spots when it came to helping the purple clothed man Logan couldn’t help but feel like maybe, just maybe, he was best suited to helping Deceit. It was a strange idea, facts and logical thinking helping lies and secrets, but at the same time, it did make logical sense. Facts and logical thinking might just be what Deceit needs to help him learn better what to do and what the truth was about things. And maybe someday if not any time soon he might even join Virgil in coming to join the rest of the group. Maybe not, he didn’t know if Patton would ever really agree with Deceit they were just too different, but it was a nice thought. 

“I think I understand now and… I wish to assist you.” “Assist me?” Deceit is taken a bit by surprise, raising an eyebrow at Logan before reigning himself in and switching to a cocky fake smirk. “I’m not surprised at all that you want to help me.” Logan keeps calm, easily able to tell that what Deceit had said was a lie. “Falsehood. You were surprised and that is understandable and not at all something to hide. But I think you are misinterpreting what I meant. I don’t want to help you in your goal, I want to help you in being able to get your ideas across to the others in a more constructive manner that they can understand.” Deceit frowns at his lie being called out but does seem at least somewhat interested in Logan’s offer though he doesn’t voice it. Logan then proceeds to lay out some possible ways to accomplish this task and the pair spend a while discussing things before Deceit leaves again and Logan returns to his room. 

Logan doesn’t tell anyone about his conversation with Deceit, allowing the man to have his secrecy, and the two do have other conversations after that either started by Deceit appearing while Logan is alone or by him catching Deceit’s attention with the same lying trick as before. They get to know each other slowly, entirely independent of the rest of either of their group’s. It’s a somewhat strange process and a slow one too but they keep the pace steadily moving forward, both determined and goal focused individuals with plans to follow and things to work towards. It’s strange how much they have in common for all their differences really. They’re both opposites and the same at the same time. Facts and truth versus lies and secrets but with similar personalities in some ways. Slowly but surely they find themselves talking less about their plans and more about just plain themselves. After a while, Logan realizes that now he’d actually categorize Deceit as a friend of his even if none of the others even know they’ve spoken to each other once. 

It’s not until the next time Deceit shows up in a video that anyone notices anything. Roman seems mostly oblivious, though he’s always been the easiest for Deceit to trick, but Virgil for sure catches on that something is up with him and that it has to do with Logan and Patton seems to notice at least something isn’t quite right. Virgil doesn’t do anything during the video, probably for fear of blowing up the already existing issue they were dealing with at the time, but he does confront Logan afterward, questioning him on what is going on between him and Deceit and why they were acting so weird back there. Logan hesitates for a moment before trying to explain to Virgil calmly that he’s been trying to help Deceit in the same way they’d helped Virgil before but he’s interrupted before he can finish his explanation by a very angry former dark side yelling at him about trusting Deceit and how terrible of an idea bringing him to their side was. Logan couldn’t help but get angry himself and get a bit defensive about his new friend. He started to lecture Virgil on acceptance and open-mindedness but it only seemed to make Virgil angrier and before long the male was storming off with the promise of Patton and Roman would soon know of his ‘betrayal’ though some part of Logan couldn’t help but feel like he was the one being betrayed and cast aside. He does the first thing he can think of, retreats to his room and repeats some lies.

Deceit doesn’t take long to arrive and takes an even shorter amount of time to notice the normally unemotional sides emotional state. He frowns with concern and goes to sit beside the other on one of the chairs Logan has set up in his very library-like room. He asks what had happened and after Logan explains the anger is clear in Deceit but he thinks of the way Logan has been helping him try to react more calmly and tries to keep himself focused on Logan to avoid further escalating the situation like he used to in the past when things went wrong. “Logan I can’t say I blame Virgil for not trusting me but you didn’t trust me at first either and you’ve always been nearly on Virgil’s level when it came to telling my lies from truth. This wasn’t according to plan but… Things can still be talked about and worked out.” Deceit tries to call upon the advice he thinks Logan would give, trying to calm the other side. “I know but… Even if he doesn’t trust you I would’ve thought Virgil would’ve trusted me.” Deceit sighs. “Virgil is Anxiety, he doesn’t trust easily and even when he does that trust is quick to be broken. I learned that the hard way. Several times. It’ll take some time for this to heal but we already knew he’d be a big obstacle once I worked through my stuff with you.” Logan nods slowly but still seems upset so Deceit changes tactics. He knows this kind of stuff is what they were trying to work away from but old habits die hard and he really doesn’t know much else to do. So he starts to lie. “I know for a fact it will be alright. We’ll all figure things out for sure. Everything will be back to normal in your little friendship circle in no time and I’ll be there too. It’ll be great. I can tell you that much for sure.” He can’t tell if Logan actually buys what he’s saying but he does nod his agreement and it does seem to help somewhat. A little more encouragement and Logan is back to his normal self, thanks Deceit, and heads out again to work things out with the others leaving Deceit to return back to his own room. 

It’s not an easy transition by any measure and definitely not a full one as shown by Deceit’s room not moving like Virgil’s had but after that Deceit does show himself as himself around the others sometimes and even appears in a couple more of the videos but not as an antagonist. Virgil is clearly still very distrustful of Deceit and is very aggressive and defensive with the dark side, avoiding him when he can and attacking almost like a territorial tomcat when he can’t. Patton doesn’t really get along with Deceit either. It makes sense seeing as lies and even secrets somewhat are against Patton’s moral code in most cases with only a few exceptions he feels bad about even having as exceptions. But he’s not outwardly aggressive towards him unless he deserves it, just cautious distrusting and a bit colder than he was with the others. He still kept up that happy smile and tried to act friendly for the most part though because that’s just who Patton was. Roman was a weird case actually. He’d always been the light side with the most appreciation and use for lies but that hadn’t meant he’d liked Deceit once he’d revealed himself or anything. At least not fully. He’d still needed to be fooled and manipulated into going along with Deceit’s plans but he was always the easiest for Deceit to do that with. So while Roman was at first just as distrustful as the others he was the quickest to get used to him if not quite warm up to him. He wouldn’t say he’s friends with Deceit like Logan is but he’s not enemies with him either and he does somewhat trust him to some extent. Deceit has always been the one with the most control over Remus if anyone has any control over that madman and that doesn’t change with the transition. Really not much about the Remus situation changes at all. The only real reaction he shows is a positive if slightly jealous one that only Deceit sees. Other than that it’s just his usual tricks even when Deceit’s around the light sides. 

It's about five months into Logan’s friendship with Deceit as things are starting to settle down again that he starts to think about his feelings towards Deceit. They’ve shared a lot of moments together from good to bad in that span of time and they’ve gotten to know each other quite a bit. Logan doesn’t doubt he’s the side who knows the most about Deceit and really? In some ways, at least Deceit is the side who knows the most about him too. It’s a strange thought really that the side all about lies and tricks is the one he’s trusted with the most information about himself. He guesses they just really get each other. He understands that while Deceit lies a lot and sometimes involuntarily that doesn’t entirely make him bad. Untrustworthy at times sure but if you’re good at sorting the fact from the fiction like Logan is then not really. Deceit knows Logan can sort through his lies and they’ve even had a few conversations made up entirely of lies from Deceit’s end involuntarily that Logan has been entirely understanding of and helped him work through. And even beyond that, they have a lot of the same issues in life. They both tend to be ignored and pushed aside. They both tend to be treated as a means to an end. And they both tend to block up emotions until they get to be too intense to hold back. Deceit and Logan really do have a lot in common and Logan supposes that must be why they meld together so well out of any of the other sides. 

He’s noticed a lot of small things about Deceit too. Little things that set him apart from the others. They’d already known when he got angry he would sometimes hiss out his S sounds but Logan has also noticed it happening when he got worked up with other emotions as well. It’s involuntary for the most part as far as he can tell though he theorizes Deceit could do it on purpose if he wanted to. He’s also learned that while Deceit has the patch of scales on his face that are the most obvious he also has some patches here and there on his arm, hand, and body on that side as well though none of his legs. He knows these spots from observation for some but also deduction based on the fact that Deceit’s scales do apparently shed and it is the same itchy process it is for a normal snake just on a smaller somewhat easier to deal with scale. While Deceit doesn’t have any of the senses of a snake even in his snake eye and he’s also warm-blooded like a human rather than a snake’s cold-blooded Deceit does have some of the habits of a snake such as an appreciation for warm temperatures, the sun, small hideaways to ‘slither’ into when he does want to cool down or rest, and a mostly carnivore diet. 

Logan gets so lost in thinking about all the things he knows about Deceit in that moment he doesn’t notice when Deceit pops into his room until he speaks up, bringing Logan’s attention away from his thoughts and the book he was staring at while he thought to himself. “Logan?” Deceit looks nervous and that makes Logan frown. If Deceit is nervous then something is really up. He’s not too nervous but the nerves are still there. He also looks determined though, that goal-focused mind telling him he has something he’s here to do and he’s going to do it no matter what. “Yes Deceit?” Logan says as he sets aside his book, sliding a bookmark into it. “I want to talk to you about something. Or really tell you something.” Logan raises an eyebrow but gestures to one of the other chairs in the room. “Take a seat.” Deceit nods and sits down. “What is it you want to tell me Deceit?” Logan says calmly and patiently. Deceit pauses for a moment before slowly speaking, carefully trying not to make what he’s saying a lie. “I want to tell you my name, we’ve gotten really close and I trust you with the information even if I don’t the others.” 

That catches Logan entirely by surprise and his eyes widen in shock as he just stares at Deceit for a few moments. Deceit is watching him carefully for his reaction and slowly Logan regains himself and nods, mind catching up and analyzing the facts, helping him to realize that yeah, this outcome is logical and really to be expected at this point. “I see. Well. You’re free to tell me if you wish and I promise I won’t tell any of the others.” Logan says, catching on to Deceit’s true fear of having his secret broadcasted to everyone because of this. Deceit relaxes some and nods. There’s another small pause in the conversation before Deceit says it. “Dee.” Logan nods, taking the information and tucking it away for later. “Thank you for trusting me like this Dee. I promise you won’t regret it.” Dee nods and after yet another pause he gets up to sink out before Logan, normally never one for impulse, suddenly says, “Wait.” Without even really knowing himself why he says it. Dee is surprised too by Logan but does stop and slowly sit back down again, watching Logan as he wracks his brain for why he just said that. It takes a few minutes like he’s hiding it from himself in many other facts inside his head, but when he does find what he’s looking for the realization hits him like a truck and his eyes widened behind his glasses. He’s never been one for emotion either but this… This was most certainly an emotion and a big one at that. Strong too. He honestly didn’t know how he didn’t realize it sooner. Probably because he didn’t want to. He doesn’t like being emotional but this… This can’t be hidden away or it will just cause problems in the future, Logan’s logical mind knows this to be true. So slowly he speaks. “I have something I want to tell you too Dee.” Dee tilts his head in confusion but Logan continues before he can say anything, needing to get this out and on the table as quickly as he possibly can. “I love you.” 

Silence fills the room for a while, Dee staring at Logan while he stares back nervously. He completely expects to be rejected, for Dee to say that no, things are just friendship on his end. Logan expects to have to acknowledge that and try to push away his true feelings to allow Dee to have his comfort. But that’s not the answer he gets when Dee does eventually speak again, voice soft. “I love you too.” 

The silence is different this time as it covers them yet again. Softer. Warmer. Calmer. They’re watching each other but not out of nervousness or a desire for information. Now it’s understanding, caring, and loving. Their biggest secrets are revealed and both have accepted each other as the closest people in each other’s lives. Things will be different now once again. But they both know for a fact that together they’ll get through it.


End file.
